A whole new dining experience since the new ownership. We eat there on a regular basis now. read more

Food was tasty. Satisfied the craving. My order was delivery. It came fresh and on time. read more

The food was excellent the service was phenomenal and the ambiance was better than most places unfortunately I forgot to take pictures but the amount of food you get on a plate was amazing the waitress was very nice and friendly and made us feel like family read more

In life often you get surprises. It's really awesome when they are good ones! Let me preface this review by saying I did not think this dinner would be very good! I thought I'd come in here to find a buffet, lots of fried food and an unclean environment. What I experienced was the total opposite. It's really nice interior, clean and there are many plants in the eating area. There is a darker room and a room with more light to dine in. I ate in the room that had more light. Looking over the menu they had a good selection of Cantonese Chinese style dishes with some of your usual Canadian Chinese classics, non Chinese food (burgers/fries) and seafood. All in all good selection and lots to choose from. I decided to to go for the hot and sour soup and a seafood chow mein. Hot and sour soup is one of my favourites and it's been a while since I have had a good serving! The bowl came out as a generous servicing, nice and spicy but the same time he perfect amount of sour! Really a nice touch. The seafood chow mein came served as a generous heaping portion with lobster, shrimp, lots of broccoli and a few pieces of scallop. It had a really nice sauce and was really tasty how a Chow mein should taste. It's really hard to say you love a restaurant from trying one dish and a soup but I think from what I've experienced it's solid Chinese food. I'll update my review after I return again! read more

See all

I had a very poor experience here on a Saturday evening. Apparently, one of the cooks decided not to show up for his shift "to go hunting." As a result there was a lot of standing around with about 20 people in front of a nearly empty buffet - with everyone wondering what they could eat. The poor frazzled waitress coming out with a small bowl of chicken balls or egg rolls at a time and everyone descending like vultures. Food was okay. Egg rolls were not very full. Not a lot of stir fried healthier options. Just overall disappointing. Dessert options were boring. I don't have a lot of luck with Chinese buffets and prefer quality food over quantity. We stopped here because we were from out of town and thought it would be a quick option. We were wrong. Owners were there but did nothing to apologize for the lack of food or delays. read more

I'll stay with the status quo. Limited buffet selection. Staff was just bleh. Not friendly, but not mean. The only reason I stopped was the size of the parking lot. I was in a 32' motor home pulling a car and I was very hungry. The food was hot but sort of bland. That's all. read more

This is the worst chinese food I've ever had in my life. The wonton soup was so salty that we actually sent it back and didn't want to even try another mouthful. It tasted as if they had accidentally dropped a bag of salt into the mix and left it. Then, we got General Gao's spicy beef which was jut a gross thickly battered beef in a sweet sauce (not spicy at all, even after we had asked to make it as spicy as possible). We also got the lemon chicken, knowing that it would be deep fried in batter, but hoping to get a refreshing lemon zest from the dish. The dish was overwhelmingly sweet and only slightly lemon flavoured. We also ordered the cantonese chow mein. This ended up being the worst chow mein ever. We requested crispy noodles with this dish, and the noodles were mushy and had so little flavour. Mid meal, all of us just wanted to leave. This place is horrible!! read more

Tried the buffet today and was disappointed on the variety of food for the price. For 17+tax there was only two tables of food and one table of desserts that were plain and Bly 3 different flavours of ice cream. Good ole chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. Very disappointed. I was looking forward to having a buffet here I. Truro, but you might as well just buy the items off the menu at that price and get what you want. read more

Terrible Service and Terrible Food....went here for the first time yesterday and what a disappointing experience. We entered and asked for a table for two and the server took us to the buffet section which looked like a cafeteria with bright lights and loud. I then went out and asked the same server if we could go into the other section which was cozy and the lights were dimmed. I was told that there were no clean tables in that section to which I said I would wait for a clean table. After waiting the server tried to seat people in that section ahead of us but when she seen I was paying attention she reluctantly seated us in what I would say was the smallest booth in that section. When our server finally came (different server) We asked if we could be moved to a different table and we did.....then the server said, "you forgot to bring your cutlery." The server then arrived with our drinks in a can with a straw.....no glass or ice...just a straw. It should be noted also is that the server who seated us lied because the tables were not dirty.....she was just pissed because we asked for a different section. Now for the food.... combination plates are usually straight forward.....here they bring your eggrolls as an appetizer which was ok, however when the combos came they had zero flavor. That was the first time ever I thought I was going to have to add salt to Chinese food. We didn't feel welcome from the beginning and the food was shit.....will never go back!!! read more

We have only been for the lunch buffet. Cold, dirty, greasy, and most pans were empty. We were SO disappointed until we investigates elsewhere and located all the bad reviews. YUCK read more

First time my family and I visited this restaurant, service was good but the food was horrible the lemon chicken wasn't even edible, rice was tasteless and the orange chicken was gross. All 3 of us couldn't eat any of it and the manager came over and picked our plates apart giving us a really hard time. Won't be back read more

This past Saturday my family and I went to this restaurant to celebrate my grandmother's 86th birthday. The Chow Family has always been one of my grandmother's favorite restaurants in Truro and not a place she gets to often. My first clue about how this meal would be should have been when I walked in and realized we were the only ones there. After seating I noticed that my knife was dirty. I didn't say anything as I knew that I was not going to be using it. We ordered our dishes with our waitress. After a very short time (another clue) we receieved our egg rolls. They were dripping with grease and the ends were very hard. (too bad I didn't mention the dirty knife earlier). The waitress cleared the egg roll dishes and again very quickly brought out our 6 combination plates. I will say there was a lot of food on these plate. I first tried a bite of rice. It was hard and bland. This was my only bite of my rice the entire meal. Next I looked at my spare ribs - they were 90% fat so those did not get touched either. On to the next item - chow mein. It had absolutely no flavour and was 99% bean sprouts. After a few bites I couldn't have anymore. Last but not least - chicken balls. They were dripping in sauce but I was pleasantly surprised that when I bit into them they were almost all chicken and not just dough as I had anticipated. Around this time I looked up, noticed other famiymembers kind of moving their food around on their plates but not eating. They too found the food very bland and mostly inedible. Their biggest complaint being with the Beef and Broccoli. I did not try this so I am not sure if there was a specific complaint beside it just being "not good". Because it was my grandmother's birthday though no one was really saying much about how much they disliked their meal. I looked over at my grandmother to ask how she liked her food and noticed that she was burping a lot. Strange. She then said that it fel like she had something caught in her throat. She tried to take a drink of water but could not swallow it. She did have something caught. She started choking. Luckily a member of our group was first aid trained and able to help because even though we were the only ones in the restaurant, no one came to her aide. It felt like an eternity to me but the whole episode probably only lasted about 5 minutes, We decided it was time to go at this point. The waitress dropped take out containers on our table. We proceeded to pay and leave. Our waitress did ask one member in our group if my grandmother was ok at this point but that was it. Didn't see a manager express any concern at all.I was also surprised to learn that we paid full price for my grandmother's meal. I didn't expect a free meal by any means but even an acknowledement would have been nice. This will be my last vist to this restaurant. It will also be the last visit for all my family members including my grandmother who has been coming for the past 40 years. read more

Wow whoever gave them five stars...no comment. I personally LOVE Chinese food and I'm sure I went to a lot of Chinese restaurants, but it was the first time that I left a restaurant after taking one bite of the food. (I paid tho) Table was dirty. Beef was too salty and it smelled. Ironically for a province that has ocean nearby, shrimps were poorer than any other Chinese restaurants that I've been in Toronto. I strongly recommend you to find a better restaurant. read more

The food was great, the price was right, the service was bad. There is a full menu page of lunch specials from 11 AM - 3 PM and a lot of them are $6. I had fried rice, an egg roll, and a large portion of chicken soo guy for $6. I haven't been to the Chow Family in several years but the egg roll was exactly as I remember with it's interesting curry flavour. The rice and chicken were also great. The server was slow to take the orders and didn't refill the water. The bill was dropped on the table half way through the meal with no reason. When we were done we asked for a take out container and she said she would bring us one. We then watched her walk around, count money, clean tables, deliver food, etc. for 15 minutes and never bring the container. We asked another employee for a take out container and again watched her walk around for five minutes before actually bringing us one. I'd go back for the food and price. Just pack tupperware in your purse for leftovers. read more

have only had the buffet so far not a bad section for lunch, pretty good over all for a small town buffet. Food comes out pretty good to restock the line. read more

Was hesitant to eat here based on reviews but I was pleasantly surprised. Best spring rolls I've had in a while and the rest of the food was at least as good as what I'm used to. I see people complaining about service bit I ate the buffet so what service?? Seems redundant to complain about service at a buffet place. They even had decent desserts which is going above and beyond the norm. 5 stars easy. read more

Typical, but good. Fresh ingredients and generous portions at lunch. Inexpensive (dare I say cheap?). My almond chicken guy ding was a bit salty, but otherwise fine. They have a gluten free menu - just ask for it. Friendly staff. read more

I have been to the Chow Family 3 times, tried to give them a chance to get to right, First I think Stan Chow should have taken his name with him when he sold cause this place is the worst buffet I have ever eaten at. And the real Chow Family owners food was off the charts it was so good. The food is always was cold, the vegetables are so over cooked, I had sweet and sour chicken balls, I kid you not I could NOTTTTTT cut it open with a knife it was so hard inside and dried up. The chicken wings are dry as a bone as well, all the food is over cooked, it is a shame and I think this food sit's there for ever, nothing is good or tasty or even fresh really. The only thing that is not bad is the coconut shrimp but I am sure they do not cook it them self's and the egg rolls other than that..SORRY I CAN NOT WASTE MY HARD EARNED MONEY HERE EVER AGAIN... PLEASE READ YOUR REVIEWS AND TAKE NOTES ON WHAT YOUR CUSTOMER'S ARE TRYING TO TELL YOU. Or take a trip to New Minus and check out their Chinese Buffet and learn how to do it right..Even the soup bowl had no won tons in it, the interior furniture is what was there when Stan owned it, and that's the only nice thing about the place....DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY PEOPLE.... read more

My experience with this restaurant was horrendous. Our order was over an hour late arriving. The reciept was a combination of numbers with no explanation as to what we were paying for, to top it off our over $100 order was wrong. The wontons had no meat inside of them, so basically all I recieved was deep fried chips, the almond chicken had no trace of almonds (side note: when I asked why they said they dont provide the almonds to their dishes because of peanut allergies and when I asked why dont they tell their customers that they said it wasnt necessary to explain why), our gluten free vegetarian dish arrived with chicken, our chicken fried rice had no chicken and we never recieved our steamed rice at all. When we asked for a refund they said they needed their food back I agreed. They did not once offer to exchange the orders or even apologize. Then once they showed up, with a bag of almonds, they told us they would only refund $18 but could not explain where the number came from. They refused to refund the delivery charge because they dont personally deliver the food. With that, we returned the entire order and demanded our money back for the appalling service/experience. Which is still pending. Overall, I had an awful experience and wont be ordering there again. read more

I was a loyal customer for 6 years and since they have new owner,s, the food is well prepared but tasteless. Not even close to what it was. Switching to Ho Ho,s instead. read more

had the buffet not much selection, food was cold , and chicken balls and egg rolls where hard as a rock , quite disappointed use to be my favorite Chinese restaurant read more

Don't eat here! I used to eat here all the time - it used to be great! Now it sucks! My sister and niece and I went for lunch - we ordered 'combos'. We wanted to have our egg rolls first and the server refused - then when we got our meal, my niece found a metal scrubby coil and my sister found a maggot - when we pointed this out to the waitress all she did was offer us a new one! No apology! She then proceeded to tell us that it was a cleaning scrubby from cleaning the wok and it "happens all the time" like it was totally 'normal' and acceptable! I have been eating Chinese food all my life - lived in Toronto and Vancouver and have never ever had this happen -- the best part was when we went to pay - the Chinese manager at the cash told me I had to pay cause I ate some of the rice! OMG! I told her I wasn't paying for the 2 lunches that had issues - she then demanded I pay for the tea! No apology - nothing! I will never go back!! Stay away - stay far, far away!!! read more